


Luck of the Draw

by ruby2



Category: Firefly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-02-16
Updated: 2004-02-16
Packaged: 2019-04-29 11:05:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14471319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ruby2/pseuds/ruby2
Summary: Kaylee has a birthday.





	Luck of the Draw

**Author's Note:**

> Note from alice ttlg, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Firefly’s Glow](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Firefly%27s_Glow), and was moved to the AO3 as part of the Open Doors project in 2018. I tried to reach out to all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are the creator and would like to claim this work, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Firefly's Glow collection profile](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/fireflysglow/profile).

Luck of the Draw

## Luck of the Draw

### by Ruby2

Mal whistled as he jogged up Serenity's echoing metal steps on his way to the bridge. 

When he was younger--a lifetime ago it sometimes seemed--he used to whistle constantly. 

"Lands, you must be mighty happy today to be whistling like that," his grandpa used to say, listening to him whistle as he did his ranch chores. But it wasn't so. Mal just liked to whistle. The sound helped him relax; helped him think. So, if he was thinking, he was whistling. 

But he had learned the hard way in the army that stray sounds often got you in trouble. There was no better way to let a sniper hone in on your position than to whistle continuously. On top of that, any indication that you were actually thinking while in the Army was trouble in and of itself. So he'd learned to whistle silently. Which is what is was doing now. At present he had a Chinese folk song stuck in his head. At least it wasn't a Chinese pop song, he thought. Those were the worst. 

" _Hung tzai mei-mei, ee yah hi yo_!" 

He was whistling to himself because he had a potentially thorny problem on his plate. Which he was about to share with his crew. 

_A problem shared is a problem... pawned off on someone else_ , he thought. 

He stopped by the control room first. Wash confirmed that planetfall was coming up quickly. 

"I just launched Inara so she could make her first appointment on the far side, Cap'n," Wash said. "Yep, that woman just couldn't wait to get back to work," he continued, cracking his knuckles with the help of one of the small plastic dinosaurs that littered the control console. 

Mal ignored the comment. He'd find some extremely embarrassing but (in deference to Zoe) mostly non-fatal way to bust Wash's ass later; right now, he needed his help. 

"If the ship can spare you for a minute, I got something that I need the whole crew to consider. In the galley. Now." 

Wash heaved himself out of the chair reluctantly. By the time he'd moseyed down to the galley, everyone else was already there. Everyone except... 

"Hey, where's Kaylee?" he asked. 

Mal stabbed Wash with his gaze. "This is about her, so right now she's in the engine compartment, trying to find a missing part that is, oh, right here," he said, pulling the part out of his pocket and swinging it from a finger. 

"Is she in some kind of trouble?" asked Book anxiously. "She seemed perfectly fine at lunch..." 

Mal looked down at the swinging part.   
"No, she's not in trouble. It's more like...we're in trouble, Preacher." He sighed and pocketed the swinging flange. "Tomorrow is Kaylee's birthday." 

Book stared. Then he smiled. "Well, that's fine! A birthday! We should have a party! And with planetfall coming up, why, we can buy her a nice gift..." 

His sentence was cut off suddenly by a loud flatulent sound that escaped from Zoe's lips. 

Book looked around at the other crew members. Wash was hugging himself with one hand and stroking his chin with the other, trying to hide a smile. Jayne suddenly looked like a trapped animal, eyes darting around, looking for an escape. Only he, Simon and River seemed clueless. 

"Does anyone want to explain to me what the problem is?" asked Book, looking around. 

"Ah, Shepherd, Kaylee is a REAL difficult person to buy gifts for," volunteered Zoe, trying not to show too much sarcasm. Wash kicked her gently, since she was being so unsuccessful. 

"Really? I can't imagine that she would be ungrateful, no matter what the gift," said Book. "That girl is just so happy about everything." 

"Well...it's not that she's ungrateful," said Mal. "The problem is, well...you tell him, Jayne, you got her the present for her last birthday." 

Jayne looked like a man contemplating his own hanging. After a moment he began: "The problem is she's too gorram grateful. Whatever you buy her, she tells you how much she likes it. Every minute of the day. She'll even wake you up at night and tell you, in case you somehow missed it. It's enough to drive you nuts!" 

Book looked at Jayne. The big man looked like he was about to cry. It was positively confounding. "What did you buy her for her birthday, anyway?" 

"Well, that's neither here nor there, Preacher," began Mal hastily. 

"No, I want to know," said Book firmly. "What was it?" 

Jayne looked down at his feet. He mumbled something that Book couldn't quite hear. Or at least hoped he hadn't heard properly. 

"You got her a gun?" repeated Book. "You got Kaylee a gun?" 

"Don't say `gun' in that tone of voice, Preacher. It was a real nice gun for a girl. Used, but plenty o' power and right purty," said Jayne in a wounded tone. 

"Yeah, until she shot you with it," sniggered Zoe. 

Jayne started up at that, but Mal put a hand on his shoulder. 

"As I said, Preacher, the nature of the gift is neither here nor there," said Mal in a voice that Book had come to know as his `this topic is closed' voice. 

"The reason I have gathered you here today is that we're gonna draw straws to see who gets to buy Kaylee her birthday present this year," said Mal. He looked around at the group, who had fallen silent. "It's the only fair way. Who's in?" Mal raised his hand. Zoe, Wash and Jayne put up their hands immediately. River smiled suddenly and put up her hand, too, then grabbed her brother's hand and raised it. Book reluctantly raised his hand. 

"Okay," said Mal, reaching into his coat pocket. "I got some toothpicks here. Six are regular length. One is short. Short one buys. I pick last." He turned his back on the group for a moment and then with a flourish, presented the toothpicks with the ends covered up. 

"Ladies and gentlemen, step on up and take your chance at the wheel of misfortune." 

* * *

River walked shyly down the edge of Serenity's ramp and peered into the cool mist for her first view of New Melbourne. At first glance, it was a rough border town like so many others. But Simon had told her that the lucrative gem mines had brought wealth to many. And where there was wealth, there was the marvelous.

River squinted up through the mist at the tall, gleaming buildings in the distance. She put out her hand, as if she could touch them, but they were far away. _Actually, the New Melbourne Towers are 31.2 clicks from the space port_ , said a voice in her head. _The tips of the towers gleam because they are made of pure platinum_. She shook her head. She wasn't sure who that voice belonged to, though most days it sounded like her. But it said things that she would never say, or know. 

She felt something soft on her arms and looked up. Simon was there, dear Simon, folding her into a blue fleece sweater. He was saying something about rain, but even though she tried to listen carefully, it was all random. Just random. 

Simon looked into his sister's face. He had told her to wait for him at the entry and he was amazed that she was there, but she was barefoot and coatless. He pulled the sweater on her and slipped her feet into the multipurpose sandals he had brought along. At least it wasn't snowing, he thought, glancing outside. 

He caught her eye. "Are you ready? Shall we go now?" he asked her. 

She looked him in the eye and smiled suddenly, nodding enthusiastically. He fastened the snaps on his slicker with one hand, as he shook open the umbrella with the other. He held out his arm and River took it. "Lai le, mei-mei (let's go, little sister)," he said as they set out. 

Simon steered River toward the train station that he had been told would shuttle them to downtown New Melbourne. They passed Jayne who was coming back to Serenity carrying a box balanced on one shoulder. 

"Bad luck, doc," said Jayne, patting Simon roughly on the back. "Maybe if you hadn't gone first..." 

Simon sighed to himself. He didn't mind if the others thought of him as unlucky... he knew better. 

After they disembarked from the noisy, smoky train, Simon and River boarded a people mover outside the New Melbourne train station. The conductor had told them it was headed directly to the fabulous shopping Towers downtown. As they floated at half-grav along the comfortable walkways, River was engrossed in the beautiful holographic displays and was quiet. For the moment, Simon let his thoughts wander. 

Coming into the lobby housing the sleek half-grav walkways, built for the planet's very rich and indolent shoppers who didn't want to be bothered dragging heavy packages about, Simon felt unexpectedly homesick. As the walkways moved into the expansive, well-lit corridors of the shopping plaza, the feeling intensified until it was almost a physical pain. The interior of the Towers was reminiscent of the sophisticated malls he had often frequented on Earth. The expensive imported marble that lined the walls, the artificial sun set in the ceiling and the cunning holographic displays on either side of the floating walkway, somehow symbolized for him all that he had left behind. 

As the walkway headed deeper into the Towers, he felt a tightening in his chest and wondered, for the first time in a long time, if he would ever see his parents, his home again. He looked down at River with unshed tears in his eyes and pulled her closer. At least they had each other. At least they had that. 

River looked up and saw him looking down at her sadly. That glance seemed to bring her back to the task at hand. 

"Shiny," she said firmly, squeezing her brother's hand. "Shiny." She clutched her brother's arm tighter. 

As they floated toward the two story main directory of the mall, Simon thought back to the comments that had come from the other crew members when he had asked them what he should buy for Kaylee. 

"Don't get her a dress," said Mal. "She has enough dresses." 

"The only things she really loves are engines," said Wash. "Get her an engine." 

"She liked the gun," said Jayne. "She just couldn't aim it," he added ruefully. "What about shooting lessons?" 

"The problem with the gun was that it wasn't big enough and it didn't have enough colors in it," said Zoe. "Whatever you get Kaylee, it has to be really big and colorful." 

"Don't you dare get her equipment for her birthday, even if it is big and colorful," exclaimed Book. "Birthdays are special times." He said to Simon in a conspiratorial whisper, "Buy her something precious. Something from the heart." 

As he had headed for Serenity's exit, Mal called after him, "Remember, doctor, a happy engineer means a happy engine. A happy engine means a good getaway for us. Don't screw this up, or we could all wind up dead." 

Simon stopped at the building's directory. He had had an idea before he left Serenity. New Melbourne was famous for its sun gems, both synthetic and real. He fingered the 3D camera he had borrowed from Mal, securely stowed in his pocket. And now there was a certain store he was looking for. 

* * *

Much later, after a dinner of real food (lovingly cooked by Book), Zoe and Wash brought out their surprise; a small cake.

"It's made with real flour," explained Zoe. "Jayne found it in a pawn shop." 

"I had to beat a man up to get it," explained Jayne, smiling proudly. In response to a frown from Zoe, he added uncertainly, "But I was happy to do it." 

The cake was decorated crudely with a red frosting rose which was so big it had flopped over the sides of the cake. 

"We had to do the decorating ourselves. Zoe thought you would like a big, red flower. Somehow that got out of hand," explained Wash apologetically. 

"Oh my God, a real cake! I don't think I've had a real cake in...forever! It's beautiful," gushed Kaylee enthusiastically. "The flower is so...big and...red and... beautiful. It's great. Thank you so much." 

Zoe put the cake plates on the table. Then there was a silence. Five sets of eyes turned towards Simon. He could almost feel the eyes burning through his skin. He cleared his throat and stood up. Kaylee turned to look at him, her chin in her hands, her eyes glowing. 

"Uh, Kaylee, I was asked by the group to get you a present, but I wasn't sure what you wanted. So I asked all the members of the crew what they thought you would like and I got a kind of composite gift. Something special so you would remember New Melbourne." 

Simon put his hand in his pocket and drew out a little black box. He lifted the lid and presented the opened box to Kaylee, who peered inside excitedly. 

Inside there was a small multicolored jewel, shaped like a heart. It was cunningly faceted so that it caught the light and shone like a small sun in the colors of the rainbow. As Kaylee snatched it out of the box, she saw that a light but strong golden chain dangled from the jewel. 

"Shiny!" exclaimed Kaylee. "Oh, shiny!" River smiled. 

Simon explained that it was a synthetic gem, not a real one and apologized for its smallness. It had a short chain, so there wouldn't be any danger of it dangling and getting caught in the machinery. Kaylee smiled and glowed and looked intently at the jewel. After a moment, she spoke. 

"Simon, what's that inside? It looks familiar somehow." 

Simon smiled. "I hope it looks familiar. It's Serenity's engines. I had a 3D hologram of them inserted in the center of the pendant. And then I had them insert your name alongside--see here," he said pointing out the laser-fine script." 

Kaylee exclaimed and loved it some more. Simon helped her put on the necklace. The engines of Serenity nestled in the hollow of her throat and it seemed to Kaylee like they had always been there. She turned and put her arms around Simon's neck. 

"You are such a sweetie." And after a moment, she whispered, "Remember what I got you for your birthday? How'd you like more of that?" 

Simon, holding Kaylee in his arms as carefully as he might a newborn baby, blushed and said, "That's not necess...okay." 

* * *

Later, the sound of Simon and Kaylee's reenactment of Simon's birthday present drifted up to the galley and to Mal's ears.

Mal smiled inwardly. He reached into his pocket and spread the remnants of the toothpicks he still carried with him on the counter. All the toothpicks were short. He laughed silently. The boy had fallen for the oldest trick in the book. Still, if Kaylee had to be grateful to someone, he couldn't think of anyone more suited. 

Mal paused and listened again for a moment. "Now that's what I call a happy engineer," he thought. He grabbed his cup of coffee and scooted along to the bridge, whistling silently all the way there. 

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Title:   **Luck of the Draw**   
Author:   **Ruby2**   [email]   [website]   
Details:   **Standalone**  |  **G**  |  **gen**  |  **14k**  |  **02/16/04**   
Characters:  Kaylee, Simon, River   
Summary:  Kaylee has a birthday.   
  



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